We're here to help. You will find listed below, a list of the most common questions of our features and service. If you cannot find the answer to your questions in our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) area, then fell free to contact us at anytime and our support specialists will assist you.

Existing customers, you can also submit a Service Ticket and have our staff assist you in that manner. Any non-existing customers please use one of the three methods for contacting us.

We have been in business since 1999. Regardless if you are a small business, medium-sized or large corporation or if you just need a private website.

Host Excellence has the right solution for you.

2. Where are you located?

Host Excellence1774 Dividend DriveColumbus, Ohio 43228United States

3. Do I have access to the tech support center 24 hours 7 days a week?

Yes, our technical support center is open 24 hours 7 days a week to provide our customers service, around the clock. You can receive Live Chat, Phone, and Help desk service from our 24 / 7 available customer support team for immediate problem resolution.

4. How long does it take for my account to be setup after signing up?

Your account will be setup immediately after sign-up. You will receive an account information email within 24 hours after signing-up. Should you not receive an initial email from us immediately after you sign up you need to contact us.

5. Do you offer web designing, maintenance and programming services?

We regret that we are unable to offer these services at this time. However, a great and easy to use web design software called Site Studio comes free of cost with your hosting account. It allows you to create professional looking websites without any programming knowledge or web design skills.

6. Do you place advertisements on customer's websites?

We do not advertise on our customers websites, however many of our customers participate in our AFFILIATE PROGRAM. Host Excellence is the home of the industry's most lucrative affiliate program, offering commissions unmatched by our competitors. Our affiliate program was designed around a no-hassle, zero-risk approach, successfully maximizing the benefits for you, us, and those clients whom you refer to us. Simply stated, it is a Win/Win/Win situation!

There is no limit to your earnings potential! Simply sign up customers through our affiliate program and receive commissions starting at $50 up to $150 for each signup - an industry record! There is no limit to how many you can sign up and no limit to how much you can make! Some of our best affiliates are earning over $10,000/month!

Host Excellence runs its own data center through its parent company Ecommerce, Inc. in Ohio, USA.

8. Is the data center completely owned by you or do you co-locate?

The data center is fully owned by us and we do not co-locate.

9. OFAC Restrictions

Regulations established by the Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") of the U.S. Department of the Treasury prohibit us from providing services to individuals and companies in Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria or to those that are identified by OFAC as Specially Designated Nationals (SDN). The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) maintains this list of countries, individuals, and other entities that are currently under US economic or trade sanctions. Subject to the OFAC sanctions, we are unable to provide hosting, domain registration or any other services to any server, reseller, shared accounts, entity or person in the embargoed regions. In order to be compliant with government regulations concerning this, if you are in one of the aforementioned countries, or if you are listed as an SDN, you will not be able to use or sign up for our services.

This is a federal regulation and exemptions are not at our discretion. We apologize for any difficulty this may cause.

A mail account is a "mailbox" that holds your emails on the server until you view them (download them) with an email program. An email program is software that runs on your computer, such as "Outlook Express" or "Eudora" or "Pegasus Mail". There are literally thousands of other email programs available; we recommend that you use "Outlook Express", as it comes free with every Microsoft Windows installation. Detailed instructions on how to set up mailboxes and configure most popular mail clients can be found at: https://www.hostexcellence.com:443/hosting-manual/email

You can also build online forms through Site Studio site editor which is fully supported on both Linux and Windows hosting platforms.

Our Windows hosting accounts have multiple options such as the popular and secure asp FormMail.

3. Do you offer mailing lists?

All hosting plans offer mailing lists, powered by the industry standard mail list manager, ezmlm. Bundled ezmlm provides message distribution, subscriber address handling, message archiving, improved bounce handling, multi-message threaded archive retrieval, digests, remote administration, message and subscription moderation, subscriber-only restrictions, message trailer, subject prefix, subscriber name storage, customizable setup, multi-language and MIME support and more. The amount of mailing lists you can create is the same as the number of mail accounts available with your hosting account. Example: If you can have up to 50 mail accounts, then you can have up to 50 mailing lists as well. Detailed instructions on mail list set up and management can be obtained at: https://www.hostexcellence.com:443/hosting-manual/email#q4

4. Do you offer auto responders?

Each of our plans comes with auto responders for Email. An auto responder is an email address that sends an automated response back to every email address it receives a message from. You will be able to define the subject and content of the email that gets sent back from your hosting control panel. Detailed instructions on how to set up auto responders can be obtained at: https://www.hostexcellence.com:443/hosting-manual/email#q6

5. Do you offer email redirects?

Yes we offer this feature. It is an email address that - contrary to the mail account that we described above - does not have a mailbox, but rather forwards emails to another email address or set of addresses. Detailed instructions on how to set up mail forwards can be obtained at: https://www.hostexcellence.com:443/hosting-manual/email#q3

Email redirects can also be used to generate alias names for your mail accounts, for instance, let's say you have created a mail user like described above. You created the user "info" with an email address of "info@yourdomain.com" (please note that in this FAQ, we use "yourdomain.com" as a placeholder for your real domain name). For this email address, you could add an email redirect name of "myname@yourdomain.com" that forwards email to your mail account "info@yourdomain.com".

6. Do you offer web mail?

Yes, you will be able to access your email from the web from any remote location that has a connection to the Internet. We offer pre-installed webmail facility, which can be accessed at http://mail.yourdomain.com. Alternatively, your hosting plan allows you to install a huge variety of customizable webmail applications.

7. What is SPAM?

'SPAM' or 'Unsolicited Commercial email' is e-mail that is both unsolicited by the recipient and sent in substantively identical form to many recipients. A common synonym for spam is unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE). Some definitions of spam specifically include the aspects of email that it is unsolicited and sent in bulk. We do not tolerate the sending of unsolicited commercial email or "SPAM" at all.

8. What is the policy on "SPAM" and "unsolicited emails"?

We do not tolerate the sending of unsolicited commercial email or "SPAM" at all. We reserve the right to immediately terminate any domain without warning, without refund, that sends out unsolicited commercial email. NOW... if you wish to send email to people in OPT-IN lists, this is allowed being that those individuals "ASK" to receive advertisements, newsletters, or posts to services like Free For All Pages.

Services and Features

1. What is Web Space?

This indicates the amount of disk space that will be available to you on the server to hold your web site files.

2. What is Data Transfer / Bandwidth?

Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that is allowed to be transfered to and from our servers. Our plans are designed to have more than enough bandwidth than a normal website would need so that you do not need to be concerned about running out of bandwidth or 'overage charges' that other webhosting companies charge.

If you are still concerned about the bandwidth limits, consider this, if this page were viewed by 50,000 visitors, it would only use .024GB of your bandwidth. Clearly, this means that you will never have to worry about running out of bandwidth again as all of our plans are designed specifically to accommodate your needs.

Rest easy knowing that at Host Excellence, bandwidth concerns and 'overage charges' are a thing of the past.

3. What is the difference between Linux and Windows accounts?

Deciding which plan and platform is right for you is often a difficult decision. We hope this explanation can help you in choosing the correct hosting platform for your website. We offer a choice between Windows-based and Linux-based web hosting platforms. While both are very reliable and widely used platforms, each has their specific advantages.

Windows hosting is often mistaken as a "must pick" only because the operating system you are running may be Windows. In fact, the majority of all websites on the Internet are hosted on the Linux platform, so most websites you have been visiting are likely to be hosted on Linux servers.

If you have Windows on your computer, you can still manage a website hosted on a Linux platform and also browse any website hosted on a Linux platform. You only need Windows-based hosting if you need Microsoft-specific applications, such as ASP, ASP.Net, Coldfusion, MSSQL Server or MS Access databases.

If you do not need any of these Microsoft-specific applications - or if you don't even know what they are, then the better choice will always be to host your website on a Linux server. Linux servers host the majority of all websites on the Internet and will provide you with highly reliable hosting services. For more details, please visit our Linux Hosting Plans.

In addition to our shared hosting products, we also offer Virtual Private Servers. Virtual Private Servers are typically more affordable than dedicated hosting options, and will provide more dedicated resources than shared hosting.

We do not specifically offer hosting for resellers, but you can split your account among clients as you like.

6. Do you offer any custom hosting packages?

All plan features are pre-defined and can only be extended with account upgrade. Upgrades are immediate and do not affect your hosting.

7. How can I make a payment?

We accept these major credit cards - Visa, American Express, Discover and MasterCard. Since credit card transactions are immediate and fully controlled by the credit card owner, you can perform immediate signups, upgrades, downgrades, receive refunds and choose which card should be billed at any time.

8. Do you support ASP?

ASP and ASP.NET v1.1, v2.0 and v3.5 are fully supported on any of our Windows hosting platforms

9. Do you support PERL?

PERL is fully supported with both Linux and Windows hosting platforms. The majority of existing CGI programs (generally perl scripts) that are available on the Internet have been developed on UNIX platforms and hence tend to install and operate much more smoothly under UNIX/Linux.

10. Do you support PHP?

We support both PHP 4 and PHP 5, a scripting language similar to HTML. Using PHP, you can track and authenticate users, serve up XML pages, add additional functionality to forms, and much more. This feature is supported by all Linux and Windows hosting solutions.

11. What PHP Settings can I change?

While all configurations in the default file should suite most of your web applications, some will need to be changed to meet the requirements of your web applications. To understand which PHP settings affect your web applications and what effect changing them might have, or what reasonable limits may be on the ones you may wish to change, you can check out this link:

These Multimedia utilities are fully supported by any of our hosting plans. All Flash and Shockwave technologies are supported so you can feel comfortable when you host Flash and Shockwave movies. Even if the complete websites are designed in Flash it will run perfectly on our servers.

13. Do you support SQL databases?

Mysql and PostgreSQL server are fully supported by both our Linux and Windows hosting plans. MySQL is the world's most popular Open Source Database, designed for speed, power and precision in mission critical, heavy load use. Its software architecture makes it extremely fast and easy to customize.

Owners of Windows platform plans can also host MSSQL databases - a comprehensive database software platform providing enterprise-class data management. It enables you to build and manage extensive, well-performing database software applications that you and your visitors can use to take your business to the next level.

14. Do you support SSL?

Yes we do support SSL. With a SSL certificate you can have a secure encrypted website. You can either purchase your own one or use a shared certificate provided by us. You can buy certificates from
us or many other providers.

The SSL security protocol provides data encryption, server authentication, message integrity, and optional client authentication for a TCP/IP connection. Because SSL is built into all major browsers and web servers, simply installing a digital certificate turns on their SSL capabilities. Detailed information on how to create certificate requests and how to install certificates can be found at: https://www.hostexcellence.com:443/hosting-manual/ssl-certificate

15. Do you provide website traffic statistics?

Yes, you will have the industry-standard traffic analyzers Webalizer and ModLogAn. Additionally, you can install and use well-known tools such as AwStats, Abacre Advanced Log Analyzer, Google Analytics and many others.

16. What are your DNS servers?

Please note that you will have to use the nameservers associated with the control panel you are hosted on. Each control panel has two configured nameservers. In order to confirm which nameservers you should use please refer to the email sent to you at the time of your account creation.

Alternatively, you can also check the nameservers once logged in to your control panel at:
https://manage.hostexcellence.com/. Click on "Manage" next to your hosting account. Once logged into the hosting control panel click on "Domains". Then on "Edit" next to your domain name. The page that loads will show the correct nameserver information.

Our nameserver adresses are as follows:

Control Panel:

cp.hostexcellence.com

Name:

ns1.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

69.49.226.4

Name:

ns2.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

69.49.227.4

Control Panel:

cp2.hostexcellence.com

Name:

ns3.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

72.41.4.11

Name:

ns4.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

72.41.5.11

Control Panel:

cp3.hostexcellence.com

Name:

ns5.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

72.41.223.250

Name:

ns6.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

72.41.191.250

Control Panel:

cp4.hostexcellence.com

Name:

ns7.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

71.18.255.100

Name:

ns8.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

71.18.216.4

Control Panel:

cp5.hostexcellence.com

Name:

ns9.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

76.163.255.229

Name:

ns10.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

76.163.254.229

Control Panel:

cp6.hostexcellence.com

Name:

ns11.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

76.163.255.195

Name:

ns12.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

76.163.254.243

Control Panel:

cp7.hostexcellence.com

Name:

ns13.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

98.130.0.4

Name:

ns14.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

98.130.1.4

Control Panel:

cp8.hostexcellence.com

Name:

ns15.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

98.130.254.187

Name:

ns16.hostexcellence.com

IP Address:

98.130.253.100

17. Can I host an on-line store?

Yes, we offer osCommerce shopping cart pre-installed - Open Source based online shop e-commerce solution. It features a rich set of out-of-the-box online shopping cart functionality that allows store owners to setup, run, and maintain their online stores with minimum effort and with no limitations. osCommerce has attracted a large community consisting of over 134,400 store owners and developers worldwide. Add-ons are being contributed on a daily basis, with over 3,900 add-ons available to date. These add-ons are created by the community to extend the features it offers. osCommerce is a PHP based software that uses a MySQL database server backend. With no special requirements, it is able to run on any of our Linux or Windows hosting plans.

There are also many other available open source and paid shopping carts available that are compatible with our hosting plans.

18. Can I accept payments on-line on my site?

Yes, without any limitations. Be aware that you may need to register a merchant account with an online payment gateway (such as paypal.com, authorize.net, verisign.com, nochex.com etc) to accept credit cards on your site.

19. Do you support SFTP or SMTP over SSL?

These features are not supported at the moment.

20. Do you have CRON support?

Yes, CRON is fully supported and manageable through convenient control panel interface on any of our Linux hosting accounts.

21. Can I install custom COM objects?

If you have Windows platform account, you may need to install COM (ActiveX) components to serve various functionality required on your website. To request installation, just submit ticket via helpdesk interface; required information is component name, download site and licensing details. Your request will be reviewed and module will be tested for compatibility, security and reliability.

22. Can I install custom PERL module?

If you need to install PERL module to serve various functionality required on your website, just submit ticket via helpdesk interface; required information is module name and download site (link). Your request will be reviewed and module will be tested for compatibility, security and reliability.

23. Can I install PHP PEAR module?

PHP PEAR module is just a set of PHP includes. You can download it from PEAR repository (http://pear.php.net), extract from archive and upload to the place where your site application can locate it.

Domains and Subdomains

1. Who owns domains registered with Host Excellence for paid and free?

All domains registered with Host Excellence, as paid or free, belongs to the customer. You can fully manage your domain or transfer your domains registration away at anytime.

2. Can I keep my domain contact information private?

When you register a new domain, you give out your name, address, phone, and email, right? What you may not realize is that this information is PUBLIC. It's stored in what's called the WHOIS database, which is available to (and easily searchable by) marketing firms, spammers, and other online fraudsters; anywhere, at any time. But you can fight back, and hide this information. Domain WHOIS privacy protection,changes your public contact information in the following ways:

Replaces your physical address with PRIVATE

Changes your phone numbers to PRIVATE.

Substitutes your email address with a unique email address that helps block spammers but still lets real people with an interest in your domain get through.

The difference between a sub domain and a domain name can be explained easily.

While a domain name is a full website address, totally independent of other domain names, a sub domain depends on a domain name. If for example "yourdomain.com" is your domain name, then http://yourdomain.com and http://www.yourdomain.com would be your domain name's address. A sub domain name would be a name *under* your domain name, something like "subdomain.yourdomain.com". Its address would then be: http://subdomain.yourdomain.com and http://www.subdomain.yourdomain.com. It can say anything you want instead of "sub domain" and the nice thing is that unlike a full domain name, a sub domain does not need to be registered - we will register it for you.

5. Can I have a subdomain such as "something.yourdomainname.com"?

Yes, you will be able to have your own sub domain, such as something.yourdomainname.com. A sub domain is basically a subdirectory or folder created inside your FTP area which is a fully operating Web site. The main benefit of a sub domain is that it doesn't require domain name registration and fees that are associated with a full domain name.

6. Do all plans offer static dedicated IP addresses?

Yes! Your hosting plan comes with full set of static dedicated IP addresses as per the plan's feature list.

7. How many subdomains can I add on your largest plan?

On our Unlimited hosting plan there is no limit to the amount of sub domains you can create.

8. Do you offer private domain registrations?

We do not offer this feature at the time, but you can change your domain contact information as you like.

9. What is transfer authorization code?

A transfer authorization code is required when transferring any .com/.net, .org, .info, .biz, .us, .name and .cn domain name from one registrar to another. You can obtain Transfer Authorization code for your domain name registered with Host Excellence anytime.

10. Can you register domains?

Yes, of course! We can register any available .com, .org, .net, .biz, .us, or .info using free domain credits that come with all of our hosting accounts. We can also register .tv, .cc, and .ca domains for an additional fee.

11. How long does it take for my domain name to resolve properly (to start working)?

It takes 24 to 72 hours for the nameserver changes to take effect. While your domain is in transfer, you can feel free to use your sites dedicated IP address to upload and test features on your website.

The cost of registering a new domain depends upon the TLD (top level domain) being registered. TLD's are .com, .net, .org, etc. When you register a new domain, you have to select a TLD under which the domain will be registered, such as domain.com, .com being the TLD.

14. Do you host all type of domains?

Yes we can host all type of domains; there are no restrictions on that at all.

15. How much bandwidth or data transfer can I use with your plans?

You will be allowed to use as much bandwidth as allotted by the hosting plan and you can increase your bandwidth limit via the customer control panel by upgrading your account.

When a domain expires, you have an approximate 30 day period to renew your domain at its regular rate. After that, your domain goes into a status called 'Extended Redemption" where you can still renew your domain for another 30 to 40 days at an increased price. This increased cost is charged by the domain issuing authority and we have to, unfortunately, pass that cost on to you. The price in extended redemption ranges from $100 to $270.

If you still choose not to renew your domain, it then goes through a short deletion period before it is opened back up to be repurchased by the general public. All of this comes together to illustrate why it is very important to set your domains to renew automatically. You can set renewal status as well as other domain options in your control panel.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

1. What is FTP?

FTP means File Transfer Protocol and is an internet protocol with which you can transfer files over the Internet. It is fast, reliable and convenient.

2. What does "unlimited FTP accounts" mean?

You can create a certain number of FTP user accounts on any of our Linux hosting accounts (depended on the plan). Each FTP user can have separate access information. Because of this great feature you could offer small hosting services to mini websites that do not need their own domain name. Once you order a hosting account at Host Excellence, simply login to your control panel and start creating FTP users.

Now, you also have the ability to create FTP accounts for our Windows hosting plans. They are called System Accounts and, unlike Linux FTP Sub-Accounts, do not have the ability to restrict access to certain folders.

3. What is difference between FTP Service (Virtual FTP) and FTP sub-accounts?

FTP sub accounts are the simplest way to authorize your friends and colleagues to work with the files within your account. Each FTP user of a Linux hosting account can be given a separate username and password, which gives full FTP permissions to a single directory, without giving access to the parent directories, or the control panel. No dedicated IP is required for FTP sub accounts. Each FTP sub account has a login which is different from yours. For Windows accounts you can also have several FTP user accounts, however, you cannot restrict access to certain directories.

Virtual FTP provides more possibilities than FTP sub-accounts. You can give your authorized Virtual FTP users access to more than one directory and specify a different set of permissions for each directory. Virtual FTP users log right into your root, but can enter only those directories you allow them to enter.

4. Can I upload my websites using FTP?

Yes, you can upload your website using FTP protocol. The hostname (also called destination address / target address / ftp address, etc.) for your account is always ftp.yourdomain.com or the IP address (looks like this: "100.200.150.250") Please note that ftp.yourdomain.com will not work before you have changed the nameservers of your domain name to ours. To connect please use the username and password you received in your account information email. The directory that you should upload your HTML files (the web pages) to is /yourdomain.com/

The directory that you should upload your cgi-scripts to is /yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/.

5. Which FTP program would you recommend?

If you don't have a FTP client already, we recommend using FileZilla - a free, fast and reliable FTP client with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface. You can download FileZilla at http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/

Host Excellence is not an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and does not offer dial-up service. This means you cannot dial into our servers via a modem or connect via Virtual Private Network and get on the Internet that way. This service is provided by commercial outlets such as AOL, Prodigy or EarthLink. We will be happy to refer you to a dial-up ISP if you need assistance. You must have Internet access if you wish to retrieve your Email or work on your web site.

5. Can I access my account using telnet/SSH?

Remote access (via telnet, SSH or RDP) is not available with our shared hosting products due to security considerations. For our shared hosting products we do offer an advanced Web Shell program which allows you to manage your files, directories and file permissions online, directly from your web browser.

Yes, Host Excellence proudly offers its subscribers a "30-Day Money Back Guarantee." This guarantee allows subscriber to purchase Host Excellence's services with full confidence and zero-risk.

8. What is the uptime of your servers?

We guarantee that your hosting account will be up and running at least 99.9% of the time of any 12 month hosting period. If we fail in any given month, you receive one full free month of hosting service. The above will be honoured if the interruption is on our network or servers. There are many reasons why servers appear to be down at times and these could be possible problems with the ISP (your broadband or dialup provider)or defunct routers on a main network responsible for covering a specific area of the world. One way to determine if the problem is on our network is to simply do a traceroute using online service or software that you may already have.

9. Have you ever been hacked?

We use TWO firewalls (preliminary and on-network firewall) and since we do not allow any kind of shell access to any part of our network, your website is in very good hands and we have never been hacked.

10. What kind of backup policies do you have in place?

Regular backups of our servers are conducted for disaster recovery purposes. Since the backups are scheduled and overwrite previous backups, we cannot guarantee the backup will contain the exact desired content for every customer. Upon request, we will provide complimentary copies of any backup content available. We do, however, encourage our customers to regularly backup their content locally and before any major changes.

Each type of server is assigned a backup schedule that can vary from other server types. Likewise, individual servers of the same type may be backed up on different days to help spread the load on our Data Center resources. Here is the frequency of our backups based on server type:

Server Type

Frequency

Notes

Linux Web

Weekly

1 backup on file. Each backup overwrites the last.

Windows IIS

Twice a Month

2 backups on file. The new backup overwrites the oldest backup.

MySQL

Weekly

2 backups on file. The new backup overwrites the oldest backup.

PgSQL

Weekly

5 backups on file. The new backup overwrites the oldest backup.

MSSQL

Twice a Month

2 backups on file. The new backup overwrites the oldest backup.

Mail

N/A

The database containing the email addresses and their configuration is backed up, but data changes too quickly to effectively backup email data or mail list subscribers.

11. How is your network and server infrastructure setup?

Our network infrastructure is powered by CISCO routers and switches. For our main fibre-optic connections we use two Cisco 12,000 routers for fastest packet delivery, efficient and smart routing and for rock-solid stability. As a matter of fact, our CISCO router did not go down for the last 750 days (that's over 2 years of uninterrupted, constant routing).

The robust exterior-independent design of our data center allows us to serve the needs of our clients regardless of what happens in the outside world. Our facility is climate sealed from the outside and climate controlled from the inside to ensure maximum security against server heat-outages. Even thunderstorms or hurricanes cannot hurt us. They've been here, done that, and not a single one of our servers was ever affected.

12. How can I submit a suggestion or claim?

We value all feedback we receive from our customers and do all we can to address them immediately. You can submit your suggestions and claims 24x7 via our helpdesk interface.